Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
I have some mixed feelings about all this.
First off, if the guy likes to beat up homeless drunks who happen to hassle him for spare change, then he is a jackass plain and simple and this has nothing to do with his rank or depth of study. It's just a personality flaw.
However, I'm going to suggest that there are actually plenty of legitimate reasons why someone might not be able to train under an instructor, and yet might continue to practice on his own, as this person seems to still do, and continue to progress in his own practice.
For one, perhaps he is no longer living close enough to his instructor to continue training with him, and he hasn't found another teacher with whom he is interested in training. Maybe family and financial commitments prevent him from training with an instructor. These circumstances could enter the picture at a color belt level, or at any black belt level. From the prior posts, it sounds like these are perhaps not the case for this individual, but on a wider topic of conversation, I think these are valid possibilities. And under these circumstances, I applaud someone who is dedicated to continuing his own practice to the best of his abilities, on his own, whether as an underbelt, or as a low level black belt. It is easy to go to a school where others help motivate you to train, and train hard. It is much more difficult, especially over a long period of time, to find your own motivation to train hard, without someone pushing you to do so, and without the carrot of Higher Rank dangled in front of your nose. While this is not a perfect situation, I believe very very strongly, that you can continue to grow in your practice, in this way. In some ways, what you discover in this way will mean more to you than what you could be shown, because you uncovered it yourself.
Now of course there is always someone who can teach us more, no matter what level we are at, and this, in theory, is ideal. To train under a skilled and knowledgeable teacher is the best way to progress. But I don't think it is accurate to look down on someone who happens to be at a low rank but trains on his own. This is not the same, however, as the person in the thread who feels that he sort of "knows it all". That is obviously not true of anybody, including the most experienced 10th degrees.
It sounds to me like this guy is kind of an ***, and perhaps arrogant as well. But he also sounds like he is still doing his own training, so I think he hasn't just abandoned the path. But moving away from him as an example, and looking at it in a more general sense, I think there is some merit in this position, depending on circumstances.
First off, if the guy likes to beat up homeless drunks who happen to hassle him for spare change, then he is a jackass plain and simple and this has nothing to do with his rank or depth of study. It's just a personality flaw.
However, I'm going to suggest that there are actually plenty of legitimate reasons why someone might not be able to train under an instructor, and yet might continue to practice on his own, as this person seems to still do, and continue to progress in his own practice.
For one, perhaps he is no longer living close enough to his instructor to continue training with him, and he hasn't found another teacher with whom he is interested in training. Maybe family and financial commitments prevent him from training with an instructor. These circumstances could enter the picture at a color belt level, or at any black belt level. From the prior posts, it sounds like these are perhaps not the case for this individual, but on a wider topic of conversation, I think these are valid possibilities. And under these circumstances, I applaud someone who is dedicated to continuing his own practice to the best of his abilities, on his own, whether as an underbelt, or as a low level black belt. It is easy to go to a school where others help motivate you to train, and train hard. It is much more difficult, especially over a long period of time, to find your own motivation to train hard, without someone pushing you to do so, and without the carrot of Higher Rank dangled in front of your nose. While this is not a perfect situation, I believe very very strongly, that you can continue to grow in your practice, in this way. In some ways, what you discover in this way will mean more to you than what you could be shown, because you uncovered it yourself.
Now of course there is always someone who can teach us more, no matter what level we are at, and this, in theory, is ideal. To train under a skilled and knowledgeable teacher is the best way to progress. But I don't think it is accurate to look down on someone who happens to be at a low rank but trains on his own. This is not the same, however, as the person in the thread who feels that he sort of "knows it all". That is obviously not true of anybody, including the most experienced 10th degrees.
It sounds to me like this guy is kind of an ***, and perhaps arrogant as well. But he also sounds like he is still doing his own training, so I think he hasn't just abandoned the path. But moving away from him as an example, and looking at it in a more general sense, I think there is some merit in this position, depending on circumstances.
